Many of our better books came from ideas that our customers came up with. We have quite a lot of book lovers who are in regular contact with us. Some just love our books, others like being involved with what we do, some wish we would publish more of this and less of that, but we all care about quality books and keeping book publishing lively and interesting.

Exisle produces the kind of books that the very big publishers do not. Exisle is more concerned about long-lasting quality and sales which continue, than just being in today’s bestsellers list. Not that we mind bestsellers, and we have a few most years, but what we really like to do is find a great subject and have it written about properly by a real expert, support them with a brilliant designer and a top editor and take the book to market.

Our authors are, of course, all completely different, but what they have in common is genuine knowledge and very vivid enthusiasm. Many of them are a lot of fun to work with and all of them enrich their readers’ lives with unique, individual stories, ideas and knowledge.

Our key people are spread across Australia and New Zealand and we print in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and China. Our books are on sale in English throughout Australia and New Zealand and sometimes we produce books for American, British and South African publishers. We also sell translation rights to European, Chinese and South American publishers.

We’d love to hear from you, and if you care about the kind of things we do, maybe you would like to become part of our community.

Our books are available in all quality bookstores throughout Australia and New Zealand, or through our secure online shopping cart facility.  For wholesale orders, please refer to our Contact Details page to request information on our Australian, New Zealand, United Kingdom and South African distributors.

Meet our team:

Exisle Australia

Gareth St John Thomas

Gareth was raised in Britain taking a degree in History from the University of Sussex. He worked for Kogan Page publishers, based in London and moved to David Charles where he ended up as Publishing Director for many years. Gareth moved to New Zealand, forming Exisle initially as a hobby business while he took his MBA in Auckland. Gareth provides consultancy work for various publishing groups and this has included  periods living in the United States and the United Kingdom. Gareth believes that book publishing must remain personable and publishing companies exist to facilitate ideas and talent.

Benny St John Thomas

Benny has a particularly strong love of books and has worked in A&R and the ABC in Australia before moving into the buyers role at Australia’s Doubleday book clubs. After Doubleday, Benny moved into international publishing and marketing. After running Quarto’s Australian office, Benny spent a year in New York running her own consultancy. Upon returning to Australia, Benny established Exisle’s significant network of overseas publisher partnerships, which has led to extensive sales of Australian and New Zealand authors’ work around the world. Benny is Exisle’s Foreign Rights Director working to sell our titles into international markets. Benny is most proud of her son Richard and step son Nathan – two fine young men. She is also an advocate for the intellectually disabled.

Anouska Jones

Anouska is the publisher of our Australian division of Exisle, and has over twenty years experience in the publishing industry. She brings to the company a wealth of experience in commissioning titles, developing manuscripts, editing and project management, and enjoys co-ordinating every aspect of a book’s progression from initial concept to final product. Her expertise covers both fiction and non-fiction, ranging from biography, self-help, travel narrative and history to fully illustrated titles in categories such as gardening and cookery. Anouska is passionate about fostering original Australian talent and seeing the resulting books succeed not just locally but also on the international stage. She lives in the Hunter Valley with her husband and daughter, three horses, eight chickens, three ducks, two dogs, one cat and one budgie.

Ali Worrad

Ali is Exisle’s Publicist in Australia and manages all media promotion for our books in magazines, newspapers, radio, television and online. She comes from an extensive background in advertising and recently completed a Bachelor of Communication at Griffith University. Ali lives in Yarramalong on the Central Coast with her husband and two children.

Siobhan Dillon

Samantha Loadsman

Samantha has called Wollombi home for almost 20 years now. Joining the Exisle team at the beginning of 2015, she works in sales and looks after our Australian reps. Samantha loves reading, art, spending time with friends and family, and her cat – Maddison.

James Elms

James has recently joined Exisle as Digital Affairs Manager, looking after metadata, web content and eBook distribution. James spent the early years of his childhood growing up in the Blue Mountains, relocating to Sydney for his school and tetiary education years. Now living in the culturally diverse valley of Wollombi, James lives on his family’s property with their horses, cattle, chickens and one too many geese.

Exisle New Zealand

Gareth St John Thomas

Gareth is our founder and Global and New Zealand publisher and all NZ editorial enquiries should be sent to him.

Carole Doesburg

Carole has a lifelong passion for books and publishing. Joining Whitcoulls in 1978, she progressed through a variety of roles in sales, buying and distribution, ending up as National Book Manager of their Wholesale Division. Marriage and family coincided with the advent of desktop publishing in the late 1980s. Freelancing to New Zealand publishers grew into an increasingly diverse business alongside the pleasure of raising four fine young men. Aside from a brief spell in a full-time project management role, Carole has been with Exisle since 2003. Proud to live in West Auckland, she is actively involved in the community and spends every spare minute reading or tending her garden.

Jane Dennis

Jane has the role of publicity, sales and marketing in New Zealand, and manages the media promotion for our books and special sales. With a journalism background, she has worked in print media as a reporter, a features and fashion writer and later on as Features Editor for an independent newspaper and magazine company in Christchurch. Jane grew up in the South Island, but now lives in Auckland, and enjoys family time, outdoor activities (especially boating), reading, movies and the café culture!